Orlando Puppet Festival

Pinocchio's Marionette Theater
Pinocchio's Marionette Theater is a not-for-profit family puppet theater located on the lower level at the Altamonte Mall in Altamonte Springs, FL. Its long-running marionette musical "Cinderella," written by the theater's founder, David M. Eaton, and scored by composer Kent Smith, utilizes string puppets painted by fine artist Helaine Schneider and backdrops painted by Dale Amlund.
The song "Toyland" is staged with string puppets created by Tom Blasco as a sneak preview for a new holiday marionette play Pinocchio's proposes for late 2012, based on the famous Victor Herbert operetta "Babes in Toyland."
Pinocchio's main repertoire of classic fairy tale musicals is supplemented by glove puppet and hand and rod puppet plays like "The Funny Bunnies of Humflumm Farm," produced for touring by Puppet Celebration, Inc. with music by Davey Rocker. "The Funny Bunnies" cast is headed by Elizabeth Lorenzen and John Kennedy, a Director on Pinocchio's Board as well as a performer on "Sesame Street" and "Activity TV," and features Pinocchio's Board Chairman Philip Nolen as a hungry Cajun alligator.
Facepainter Christine Bryant will ply her art between performances at the theater November 5 & 6.
Pinocchio's 2011-2012 season is supported in part by a grant from United Arts of Central Florida.
www.pinocchios.net

Facto Teatro
Mexico City-based Facto Teatro tours internationally with bilingual toy theater folk tales played on miniature stages with stylized rod puppets and stirring live musical scores. The troupe's renowned performance of "Don Chico que Vuela" will be hosted for free by Pinocchio's Marionette Theater at Killarney Elementary School November 16, 2011, graciously sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico.

IBEX Puppetry
Heather Henson’s IBEX Puppetry is an entertainment company dedicated to promoting the fine art of puppetry in all media, including through the Handmade Puppet Dreams film series, The Puppet Slam Network, environmental spectacles performed around the country, and continued support of The Orlando Puppet Festival.
Initially developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's Puppetry Conference, IBEX's "Nativity Story” comes from the mind of Jane Henson, and is told in her aesthetic through table-top and rod puppetry in the manner of a medieval creche play, underscored with live Renaissance music. Directed by Sean Keohane, with puppets crafted by the Jim Henson Workshop and Orlando artist David Jordan, and a set designed by UCF’s Vandy Wood, IBEX Puppetry's unique telling of the original Christmas Story includes live music and singing by John Rata, Cecie Catron, and Craig Thomas of the Olde Noyse Trio.

Noel MacNeal
Noel MacNeal launched his career performing on PBS’s award-winning "Sesame Street," where he honed his craft with puppetry legends Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Noel is also a regular performer with the classic Muppets of "The Muppet Show." For the past decade, Noel has been the spirit and voice of the gentle and lovable star of the Daytime Emmy Award-winning series Disney’s "Bear in the Big Blue House" and the Disney Channel morning series "Breakfast With Bear." In 2003, Noel received a Daytime Emmy Nomination as Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series.
His repertoire of characters also Leon on PBS’s "The Puzzle Place," and Knock-Knock on The Great Space Coaster. In addition, he’s performed with and/or for Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Lewis, and Mickey Rooney. Noel is an author as well, with his puppet-making book "10-Minute Puppets with Noel MacNeal" available now from Amazon or in a puppetmaking workshop at Pinocchio's Marionette Theater on December 3.

MicheLee Puppets
MicheLee Puppets was formed in 1985 by Tracey Conner to empower lives through the art of puppetry. Tracey got her first taste of puppetry as a theatre student at Bowling Green State University. Upon graduation, she relocated to Orlando and recruited her former puppet partner, Michael Prazniak to help her start the company. They combined their middle names, Michelle and Lee, and MicheLee Puppets was born. In early 1987 Michael left the company, but Tracey trained new puppeteers and began to create a series of issue-based puppet shows on a variety of issues from racial harmony, to youth violence, to healthy lifestyles, including “A Good Day for Pancake,” an anti-bullying play intended for children from pre-school age to 7. In July 2003, MicheLee Puppets received national recognition, winning a Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin Award for outstanding contributions in the field of educational puppetry from the Puppeteers of America. Since 1985 the company has given more than 1.7 million children and youth tools to face life’s challenges and the motivation to make meaningful contributions to society.

Brent DeWitt
Brent DeWitt of Sarasota began his apprenticeship in the circus at the age of seven. Taught in the European tradition, he learned magic, puppetry, animal training, and music as well as theater. Having studied the work of famed British Punch & Judy performer Percy Press, Jr., in London, Brent became a Punch "professor" himself, playing the English seaside in summer, and traveling up and down the East Coast of the U.S. with his traditional fit-up the rest of the year. The Covent Garden backdrop in Brent's puppet booth was painted by the late John Hartley, an Orlando Punchman and Fringe Festival performer. The character of Punch, descended from the Italian Commedia character Pulcinella, arrived in England nearly 350 years ago as a string marionette, but over time a hand puppet version of Punch, as the English came to call him, found a home on city streets and rural fairgrounds in the famous and everlasting Punch & Judy show.